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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

December 9, 2009: Expect the Unexpected

OK, so the previous post I asked you to guess the coastline pictured and the reason I was showing you that coastline. And many of you guessed correctly! It is because in a very short amount of time, our new future home changed from San Diego, CA to Chicago, IL. Where to start...what to say?

You must think Andrew and I are so wishy-washy! We just can't seem to settle down anywhere for very long, right? Well, there is a bit of truth to that, or at least there was. Once we arrived in Crested Butte, CO two years ago, we knew we had found "home". The place we wanted to hang our hats, raise our family, grow old. But this opportunity came up for Andrew that just couldn't be passed up so we put our dreamy mountain lives on hold for a bit. So we packed up the family and moved to France. Now, about a year later, the France adventure is coming to an end and will be continuing as an adventure in the United States. Now, where in the United States could have been a variety of places, but the location turned out to be San Diego. So Andrew flew out there, chose a house in a day, came back to France, and we started to prepare for our move next week. And now all the sudden (as of Monday morning to be exact) we are moving to Chicago. And the bottom line is that strategically, for Andrew's job and the company he works for, it made more sense for him to be located in the Chicago area.

When Andrew told me about this development, do you want to know what I did (because it is all about me, right?) I cried. I cried because my head was in a sunny place with palm trees and runs on the beach. I cried because I spent the last 4 weeks talking up the next adventure to the girls, getting them excited, trying to get myself excited. I cried because we were to be moving in 2 weeks and had our plans in place and they were all for almost nothing. I cried because I have been feeling a little overwhelmed. But mostly I cried because at that point, I just wanted to go home - to Crested Butte - and stay for good.

A few days later, with a house found to rent, and some time having passed, I can tell you that I feel much better about it all. I have had the time to think about all the positive aspects of this move. We'll be close to old friends and family. We can take the girls to their old dentist, doctor - basically we can just pick up where we left off 2 years ago. And that certainly makes things a lot easier!

I guess in the end (or how I explain this all to myself) is that Andrew initially committed to staying 2-3 years in France. But circumstances no longer necessitate Andrew to be here on a constant basis. So thinking along the lines of the original 2 -3 year commitment, that is still the case, but the next 1-2 years will be instead in Chicago.

If all goes as planned, we will be back in our happy mountain home in no time. But, life just doesn't always go as planned - actually, it rarely does. Andrew and I are used to that fact by now - hello - identical twins!

Puntel family - you betcha. The CNW line has stops in Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and a few places before and after. In short, it doesn't matter where their place in LB is, 6 min car ride you are at their place.